Monday, September 24, 2012

Background & Significance: For Doctor Who's twentieth season, producer Jonathan Nathan-Turner had the idea to bring back a bunch of The Doctor's old villains in an effort to tie every story to the legacy of the show. The kick off story ("Arc of Infinity") featured the return of the "anniversary villain" Omega and the next story ("Snakedance") featured the return of the previous season's "Mara". There were plans for The Master to return ("The King's Demons") and plans were made for the Daleks' return at the end of the season in "The Return" (which fell through and became "Resurrection of the Daleks").

But the middle of the season featured a trilogy of stories that featured The Black Guardian as something of a background running villain. It allowed the story to do new and interesting things with new and exciting villains while still retaining the "returning villain" mandate.

This is widely referred to as "The Black Guardian Trilogy". Indeed, it's even boxed and sold that way on DVD as a trilogy of 5th stories. And yet, that's not quite accurate. See, the Black Guardian (as we find out here) is just a means to an end to finish replacing Adric. It's here that we get the introduction of a new companion: Turlough. As originally conceived, Turlough was somewhat duplicitous and (for lack of better phrase) "The Evil Companion". As an idea, this was one that captured the imagination of script editor Eric Saward, who was always looking at new ways to shake things up. They would roll out this character over the course of this "Black Guardian Trilogy" and once it was all said and done they could decide whether or not they wanted to keep him around as a permanent companion.

So what I'm saying is this trilogy should be called "Vislor Turlough, or How I Learned To Stop Hating The Doctor and Join The TARDIS crew".

Written by Peter Grimwade, who was trying his hand again at writing after the disaster of "Time-Flight", focusing away from directing after having a run of phenomenal stories. Fortunately, this time around he's much more successful. It's also the return of Peter Moffat to the directing chair. But perhaps most importantly, it's the return of Nicholas Courtney as The Brigadier. Ironically, last week we talked about him in his last appearance til this one, so much like The Brigadier here, we're jumping from one story to the next with no cover over inbetween. Granted, it was SUPPOSED to be William Russell as Ian Chesterton, but he wasn't available. Nor was Ian Marter (Harry), Nathan-Turner's second choice. Which left Nick Courtney to return.

And oh what a wonderful bendy return it is.

So let's get to it!

Commentary!:

Part 1:

One of the things that’s remarkable about this story is the way that it’s
totally jarring. Coming back to this story for a second time (and thusly
knowing how it all works out) I’m struck by the way in which Grimwade layers all
the relevant elements in a way that is intriguing yet slightly overwhelming.

It’s this confidence that really cements him as one of my favorite
creative forces in the Davison era. Everything here is deftly constructed and
put together like a large and remarkable puzzle. It’s not so different from “Snakedance”
in that scenes are short and clipped. Now apparently this was down to Saward,
who, after “Earthshock”, really implemented a much faster-moving aesthetic so
people wouldn’t get bored. The thing about it here is the whole episode is so
tightly and deftly structured, cross-cutting across different settings as effortlessly
as anything else. The result is less confusing than it is confident: keep up
because this train is moving.

That’s not the sorta thing you’d see regularly, I think. Sure, most audiences
back in the day weren’t treated like they were morons (not like they are today
anyways), but it’s reassuring now that Steven Moffat wasn’t the only one who
did that. Indeed, if Moffat cited this as a personal favorite I wouldn’t be
surprised (but we’ll get there).

By splitting up the story, but introducing it very “typically”,
Grimwade is able to subvert our expectations as the story goes along, so just
when we think we’ve got a handle on what’s up, the story veers one way and we’re
suddenly scrambling to keep up. Because look, the way that stories work is we
assume things to be taking place in a linear pattern. We start with Turlough,
we cut to The Doctor, we cut back to Turlough. Those scenes (we assume) take
place contemporaneously. While Turlough is being returned to the school we get
the first scene in the TARDIS. It presents a nice fluid motion of time moving
forward

But halfway through we get a huge twist that you aren’t really
expecting: that the narrative timeline involving the TARDIS crew is actually
taking place some six years into the future relative to Turlough’s narrative
timeline. It’s only when Turlough gets into the Transmat Sphere that he joins
up with their timestream.

These hints give insight to Grimwade’s confidence. The second you
introduce time-travel into a story you have to be meticulously plotted and completely
rigid in your structure. We’ll see hints of this more in the next episode, but
really that dials back to what I was saying here. Grimwade can pull this story
off because he knows (or rather HAS to know) what’s going on at any given
moment at any given point in the narrative or it all falls apart. And it hasn’t
so far (nor will it moving forward) which is inspiring from a plot perspective.

He goes further. The character work in this is really great. It’s clear
from the get-go that Turlough is a trouble maker and removed from the other
boys and Grimwade does a lot of work to portray Turlough as a real
person/character. His self-interest colors him as a strong character (strong
characters require wants and needs and initiative to accomplish them) and the
trickster qualities he displays at the beginning (he’s quick to trick his “friend”
Ibbotson into stealing the car with him) shade him into the role of mischievous
rather than outrightly evil. And sure enough, it means that the Black Guardian’s
hold over him is instant (Turlough is a coward) and certain (again, mischievous).
What’s crazy too is seeing him interact with the world knowing all this. He
moves methodically and surely (and yet deviating when he sees an opportunity)
and it makes him impossibly enticing right from the get go.

And then you have the Brigadier, who is… I won’t say harsh, but he
comes off different than he did back in the day. He’s more brash and insulting
than you’d expect him to be.

Also no mustache.

But go further. The key moment in this is the way Nick Courtney
absolutely sells the line “nothing can just vanish into thin air” (it’s a
paraphrase but go with it). Clearly he knows about the TARDIS. He’s seen it
vanish dozens of times. And yet there’s an ambiguity to it that sounds like he
truly believes what it is he’s saying, despite the fact that surely that can’t
be true. Why would it be true? This is The Brigadier. Sure he has no mustache,
but why would he forget the TARDIS. Musta made an impact on him. And yet the ambiguity
persists and layers yet another question into this whole thing: “what is going
on with the Brigadier”?

Then we have The Doctor and Tegan and Nyssa. They’re the rock. The
thing that makes this whole thing make sense. With Turlough we have a story
that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with anything (but it does have The
Black Guardian) set in a boarding school.

The TARDIS crew, though… they’re investigating an ornate, empty
spaceship. And I have to throw the production team a bone here because this
design is marvelous and sumptuous to look at. It goes far beyond what you would
normally see in the average Doctor Who
story and feels lived in and exotic in ways few other places don’t. Even Moffat’s
direction (which is workmanlike more than anything else) can’t avoid making the
spaceship look absolutely stunning. It stands out and feels remarkably alien to
the TARDIS crew, and watching The Doctor, Tegan, and Nyssa explore is
quintessential Doctor Who. There’s
nothing like an investigation.

And there’s also nothing like the other revelation (again, buried in
the details) that this spaceship has been empty for the past six years, when its
crew bailed for places unknown.

All of this make a fantastic first episode of something that uses
classic elements (The Doctor and his crew exploring an abandoned spaceship and
even the cliffhanger is quintessential Doctor
Who) and blends them with stuff that’s new and exciting (Turlough, the six
year time difference) to make something truly exciting and fresh. Seeing the
mashup of the typical British boarding school with the exotic and empty alien
spaceship is absolutely Doctor Who and
the trans-temporal storytelling is remarkably effective in its freshness. It
hints at quality, at confidence, at a promise it’ll pay off in the coming
episodes.

In short: it’s got me absolutely wanting to stay tuned.

Part 2:

So the first episode comes out of the gate with tons of ideas and
intrigue and excitement. Grimwade zags when you expect him to zig. And so too
does he do that with this episode. Because this episode wasn’t that. And that’s
not bad, it’s just not what you expect.

No, this episode is about The Brigadier. Turlough is pushed to the
background (and C-story really) while the story splits time between the two
different time zones of The Brigadier. It’s a start to the unraveling of the
mystery of what’s going on. Like why DOESN’T The Brigadier remember The Doctor
in the midst of all this madness? It leads to some really great unraveling and
untangling that ends in a great, cathartic montage of past Brigadier moments. And
to add to the magic of that we have Peter Davison doing a fantastic job of
building in the relationship with The Brigadier in a way that no Doctor really…
speaks to the legacy of the character. He greets him like an old friend and is…
giddy to see him. It’s honestly a wonder there’s no embrace.

This is one of those great situations where the answer to the question
(why does The Brigadier not recognize The Doctor?) only spawns more questions.
Grimwade introduces more wrinkles. Sure The Doctor meets The Brigadier in 1983
(which is Turlough’s timeframe, I was mistaken), but that’s just the tip of the
iceberg. Turns out The Brigadier met Tegan in 1977 and something crazy went
down in 1977 that made him forget some stuff. He has to pull it out like yarn
from a labyrinth, the memories coming back only as he pulls on them. It’s
subtly ominous, especially because Grimwade (very keenly) puts in the bit that
The ‘77 Brigadier remembers The Doctor immediately. Nay. He recognizes the
TARDIS by name. So what changed? Why is this difference? And how in the bloody
world are they going to fix this whole mess of a situation?

What I like about this is it’s not played for “WHAT IS HAPPENING”.
There’s a casualness about this that I rather like. Compare it to something
like Moffat’s run, where Moffat does his “usual thing” every time he writes an
episode and plays it like it’s the most insanely unique and genius thing you’ve
ever seen.

But here it’s played straight. It’s quiet and subdued and doesn’t…
showboat. I find that makes it even
charminger. What Grimwade’s doing here is WAY ahead of its time. Hell, we don’t
see anything like this until Moffat does “Girl in the Fireplace” (or “Blink”,
take your pick). And yet if you watch this episode you’d half expect Classic Doctor Who to do something this bendy
all the time. That’s great. And it means you don’t have time to marvel at how
clever it is. Grimwade’s focus is on the characters, dealing with The Brigadier
and his burgeoning memories as well as the way Turlough is dealing with the
Black Guardian.

The narrative complexity of it is also so… smooth. Look at the way
Grimwade and Moffat cut between the two Brigadier scenes. Both take place in
the same locale and yet they cut between the two time zones, with the mustache-less
Brigadier finishing a sentence or an action started in the ’77 timeline.

And then there’s the person Nyssa and Tegan assume is “The Doctor”. We
find out very slowly over the course of the episode that it isn’t him. But what’s
interesting is the way in which Grimwade convinces you that it is. He explains that
this fellow has “regenerated” (which is not a lie), which leads them to believe
that this is The Doctor reincarnated in a new body. And that’s fine. Hell, the
first time you watch it you believe it because why not? Anything can happen and
there’s a sense of unease because of the time-shifting. This story can be going
in any direction and why not this? There’s probably a way to undo it anyways,
isn’t there?

Except we get to the end and we realize that what we thought MIGHT have
been The Doctor isn’t. No. It’s someone scary and subjected to real body
horror. The shock reveal at the end is not what we’re expecting and it’s all
the more thrilling for it. It’s all in that bloody scalp piece. What is that?

So there is still a sense of “what’s going on”, but it’s logical enough
if you follow it. Grimwade isn’t exactly breaking the bank with insanity, he’s
merely doling it out in chunks of intrigue. At two episodes in I can’t stop
watching and I’m impossibly thrilled to see what they’re going to throw at me
next. And that’s… well… ringing AND endorsement, isn’t it? It’s fresh, it’s
exciting, and an instant classic. And we’re only halfway through.

Part 3:

It takes a talented writer to build to something. It takes an even more
talent to build to something slowly and effectively such that you don’t realize
that something HAS been building.

I say this because just this morning I was watching an excellent,
excellent two part episode of Star Trek:
Deep Space Nine. These two episodes (“Favor the Bold” and “Sacrifice of
Angels”) are very methodical in the way they lay out their storylines. The
first feeds into the second and the second builds off the groundwork of the
first, but does so in such a way that well, for lack of better terminology, it
slowly brings the pot to boil so you don’t notice it’s getting hotter. Anyone
can throw Cybermen into a story and make it exciting, or perhaps more
specifically throw vicious vaporizing kill robots into a situation and then transition
into a big Cybermen reveal (see “Earthshock”). And that’s not saying “Earthshock”
is bad, it’s just much more generic and easier to do.

Slowly bringing the pot to boil is much more difficult. “Favor the Bold”
is an incredible episode of television because everything that happens in it
just raises the tension by a hair up and up and up until you realize (by the
end) that what you’ve watched was a clusterfuck of insanity and the pot’s
boiling and you can’t even stand it.

That’s what’s great about this story. It’s a story that’s very quietly
and very methodically sucking you in until it gets to a point in this episode
where you realize that it’s rich with tension and madness. There’s nothing
strange about the way The ’77 Brigadier enters the TARDIS in 1977, but then you
get the revelation later in the episode that the mustache-less Brigadier never
actually entered the TARDIS. So what does that mean for this? Is he breaking
the laws of time? Is there something the Brigadier isn’t telling us? Is one an
imposter while the other one isn’t? Or is this something much crazier and
insanerer?

And then they complexify the narrative further by having both
Brigadiers running around the alien spaceship with the distinct possibility of
them running into each other, which would not be good. Clearly this was an idea
that pre-dated Back to the Future Part II.

So we have The Brigadiers running around getting into possible trouble.
We have Turlough being taunted and tormented by a somewhat-ambivalent Black
Guardian. And we have the awakening of the six other exiles (Mawdryn?). All of
these plots converge at the same time and feel like a rocket taking off.
Suddenly we’re crosscutting between storylines and not even Moffat’s slow
editing can break the momentum (seriously? Can he cut just a LITTLE bit faster?
Jesus). This isn’t just thrown together at once. There’s a method and a
structure to when these things happen. They’re like fireworks, all specifically
timed to go off in rapid succession at key moments for maximum impact.

That’s not easy. That takes a lot of work and a lot of planning and it’s
a wonder that Grimwade didn’t do it more effectively in “Time-Flight”. But here
it’s really spectacular. I can’t get enough of this plot and the way it’s all
piecing together.

What I also like is the subversion that Grimwade keeps throwing at us.
Who are these Mawdryn? What are they doing? Where do they come from? Are they
even really The Doctor? I love the way the lead Mawdryn feigns being The
Doctor. It really does keep you second guessing yourself despite the fact that
it’s rather obvious that it isn’t, in fact, The Doctor. And the revelation of
the Time Lord stealing device (while fanwanky) is a really clever and
interesting idea to have. I love seeing the “people who cannot die” played out
in such a body horror manner, and it’s little touches like the way the exposed
brain pulses that really make the design come to life.

Where the design falls apart is the design room, which is back to
normal, bog standard Doctor Who sci-fi. And fine. I’ve seen way, way worse, but
it’s odd to have Doctor Who have such
a brilliant design (and with vases of dead flowers! Genius!) hampered by a “regeneration
room” that looks like generic 80s Who.

Still, that’s a minor quibble. What’s important is that this is really
great, isn’t it? It’s a great story that (yes) has a little bit TOO much
running around. Me, I like it when things have a linear progression and we’re
not so much running back and forth as we are running from new place to new
place. There’s a distinct lack of that here, but it’s hardly noticeable. There’s
only so many times you need to run to and from the regeneration room, isn’t there?
Sure, it’s a little bit real life, but in a tight structure such as this one it
comes off as a little wheel spinny and time wastey where it… shouldn’t have to.

And yes, the cliffhanger is melodramatic and a little bullshit, but you
know what? Fine. Not all stories need cliffhangers. I know they’re going
somewhere with it, but my point stands. The Doctor saying he has to die? Come
on…

Part 4:

I guess it’s only meaningful if I wrap up at the end by saying that you
know it’s a great story when the ending is surprising yet inevitable and comes
with an elegance that you can’t really even question.

So yes. This was all building in a specific way. The two Brigadiers
converge at exactly the right moment to completely save The Doctor from making
the ultimate sacrifice. Sure, the ultimate sacrifice was hardly necessary, but
it at least makes sense in the context of the story. Honestly, though, this is
probably why Peter Davison’s Doctor comes off as “too nice” or “not for
everybody.” The Doctor sacrificing himself for these eight undead scientists is
impossibly noble to the point of eye rolling. Hell, it’s hardly believable and
it’s only because Peter Davison is such a damn fine actor that he manages to sell
it at all.

Yeah, I get that he has to do this because there is no alternative. He
can’t leave his companions behind or allow them to die (Grimwade really dials
into the emotional ripples of the death of Adric in a way he really didn’t in “Time-Flight”
where it would have been more awesome), but it’s still a bit rubbish.

That said, I find that it really does work in the end. It doesn’t
matter because we KNOW The Doctor will come back next week. What’s interesting
and worthwhile about it is seeing how The Doctor gets out of it, and he only
gets out of it because The Brigadier is something of a rapscallion. For being a
military man he doesn’t really quite follow any orders of any kind, does he?
Everyone and their mother tries to get the two Brigadiers away from each other.
The Mawdryn RACE to get The Brigadier away and into the safety of a capsule.
The Doctor spends half his time in this keeping the Brigadier away. Hell, even
The Black Guardian makes keeping The Brigadiers apart the key mission for
Turlough all through this episode.

They all fail, of course, but like I said that’s all down to The
Brigadier being a badass. He doesn’t listen to anyone, least of all some puissant
boarding school boy.

What I find perhaps most charming about it all, though, is the way it
speaks to the fundamentals of space exploration and the human condition. And
yes, I went from getting really petty to blowing out the scope of the whole
entry, but hear me out on this. The Brigadiers reaching out and touching hands
is one of the key moments of this story for me. I mean, actually, honestly, if
I were doing one of those minimalist posters for this episode, it would be of
two same hands touching (or close to touching) each other. As an image it’s
deeply iconic and really speaks to my emotions in a way I can’t really
describe. There’s a poetry to it. An elegance. The two Brigadiers in this
episode are mostly oblivious to the fact that there’s an older/younger version
of themselves running around the place and that their meeting coujld be catastrophic.

It doesn’t really sink in with them. It doesn’t really resonate. They
go about their business, but when they see something in the universe that is
truly wonderous they stop and have a look. Nothing in the world captures their
attention. The older Brigadier sees Nyssa and Tegan age and de-age rapidly
before his eyes while the Younger Brigadier spends the better part of two
episodes traipsing about some exotic alien spaceship. Transmats don’t phase
them, nor does the technology or the fact that there’s some weird and crazy
mutant shit going on around them. That he’s about to see The Doctor sacrifice
himself in the name of these people or that he will witness someone burning
through extant regenerations doesn’t seem to bother him either. This is The
Brigadier. Nothing gets through his skin.

And yet, when faced with his own mortality, with his own reflection in
a mirror, he stops. He sees himself. He has to touch it. That is
quintessentially human. It’s that curiosity of the unknown. The desire to grab
everything and every experience and assimilate it so it becomes something that
we can describe. If you see yourself you have to make contact with your
fingers. You have to understand the experience. And what is more alien than one’s
own body? It’s the one thing that someone can’t actually ever completely come
to terms with because we all live in our own skin bubbles and we’re never given
a proper context for what we’re like from a third person perspective (barring really
bad drug trips of course). But that need goes further. Suddenly you are able to
see what your past looks like. Or your future. Depends on which version of you
you are. And yet the point stands, it’s a completely atypical moment. It’s a
moment when you are aware of your own mortality, your own you. It happens so quickly, but Nick Courtney sells the hell out of
it, and from both sides. The Younger Brigadier is struck by the not knowing. He’s
never done anything like this before. And the Older Brigadier has been through
it but can’t help himself. It’s rather beautiful.

Then it ends, and it ends rather abruptly. The ’77 Brigadier is dropped
off where they first picked him up and the prophecy of “I never got into the
TARDIS” is fulfilled (the shock of the meeting musta fried his brain). The Mustache-less
Brigadier feels fit as a fiddle and better than he had since before meeting
Tegan. So that’s settled.

But it ends quickly. The TARDIS crew doesn’t stick around to bid either
Brigadier much of a farewell and we’re left with Turlough on the TARDIS as a
provisional member of the crew. Yes. It doesn’t quite work. Why bring Turlough
along in the first place? We hardly know him. (I have a theory about this that
we’ll go into later). And yet the handshake is not done quite with the note of
finality you might expect from a Companion introduction. In fact, it doesn’t do
a very good job in terms of actually wrapping everything with Turlough up. Yeah
The Black Guardian went silent, but for how long? And there’s the look on his
face that’s smug and hinting at the fact that he probably won’t be up to much
good in the coming future.

It’s the unease that gets me. It leaves me tremendously cautious about
the show moving forward and honestly I think it works better than the end of “Full
Circle” which was much the same. “Full Circle” ended with The Doctor and Romana
still stuck in E-Space. And that’s fine. That was shocking. But the thing about
that one is we KNOW The Doctor and Romana are going to get out of E-Space. It’s
just clear that that didn’t happen this week. What makes this more shocking
here is the way in which it builds in a character with a big ol’ question mark
over this. Yes, we know Turlough WILL be dealt with at some point, but there’s
no telling which way that will go. With hindsight we know he goes on to be a
permanent companion on the other side of this trilogy, but there’s still an
unease. We don’t now HOW it will happen. We don’t know what surprises are
coming up on the way. We don’t really even know where it’s going to go next.

So we end an exciting story with exciting possibilities. And that
leaves me giddy for what’s right around the corner. Can’t ask for more than
that.

Final Thoughts: So yeah, I really like this story.

The reason to this comes down almost entirely to the writing. Peter Grimwade is a surprisingly fantastic writer. He does a great job of putting together a really great story with a really excellent plot and structure. It's a story that benefits from repeat viewings so you can catch all the little touches everyone throws in.

What I also love about it is the way it's fan service but to a point. Eventually later you have fan service for the sake of fan service. And yet here you have fan service that really fits into the story. Yes you have the Brigadier in this story (hell, you have two), but you also have him being the key to solving the Mawdryn plight. Yes you have The Black Guardian, but all of his moves and methods they all push and test Turlough and develop his character. So not only can Grimwade put together a hell of a story, but he can also weave the laundry list of things he has to do into something that's coherent and exciting.

But seriously, this is really just ready-made Classic Who. It's a cracking good story and a wonderful thing for people who are into time travel. It's aged remarkably well and it's a great use of every single member of the TARDIS crew. Davison is as good as he usually is and he even sells the insane plot of the Mawdryn, which is easily the dopiest part of this story. The design work is deeply memorable and it's a bloody shame that Stephen Scott never really designed anything else. Hell, even Peter Moffat's direction is its typical serviceable and he does a lot of interesting things with space and the distance between things. The wide shots get the scope of Scott's design and present a detached lonliness that feels tonally relevant to a script about incomplete selves (The Brigadier has both a past and future that are incomplete in his head; the Mawdryn live without dying, so their lives are incomplete). The tight claustrophobia of the regeneration chamber conveys how trapped everyone feels while on the ship.

It's a great setup story and a great story in its own right. It's a story I come back to again and again and one of my favorites of both the era and the season. It's a real classic and without ever being assuming or in-your-face clever. One of the most unappreciated gems of the Davison era. Bar none.

Next Time!: 5th Doctor! More Turlough! A leper colony in space! Tin can armor suits! A giant wolf beast! And the departure of Nyssa! Cassandra's stepping in to discuss "Terminus" as we continue our week long discussion of The Black Guardian Trilogy! Coming This Wednesday!

1 comment:

I know this was unintentional, but I find it appropriate that at the halfway point of his era, Five is willing to sacrifice himself to save his companions. Ten stories later...It's poetic, the kind of thing that would be carefully planned and written these days, and it happened here by chance. That's why I don't mind that the Doctor doesn't come up with a clever plan and the Brigadiers save everyone by chance.

About The Blog...

I'm a recentish Doctor Who fan (Summer 2008, really) who loves experiencing and discussing Doctor Who. From its triumphs to its flaws to its high points to its lows, we talk about it all and nothing is not fair game.

This blog discusses all the Doctors from Hartnell to McGann, covering all The Doctor Who stories from the classic run on television. Other people focus on the directing and the music and the performances, but my focus (because I work in television) is on the actual production, writing, and construction of these stories and you can find all of our entries via the index at the top of the blog.

You can also check out "The Doctor's Companion", a weekly audio podcast where my co-host Scott and I talk about all of Doctor Who. It's like this but a bit more casual and with tons of fun. You can subscribe to it in iTunes or download the shows directly and leave comments here.

It's a celebration of the best science fiction show of all time, a show we all know and love!